OBJECTIVETo explore the reliability and validity of digital pulse wave analyzing method in evaluating arterial compliance in population-based study.

METHODSAll 415 adults (132 men and 283 women) aged 20 to 86 years old were selected from urban (220 persons) and rural (195 persons) areas, respectively by a stratified randomly sampling method. Arterial compliance, evaluated by stiffness index (SI), was measured by using digital pulse wave analyzing method from the Pulse trace machine (Micro medical, London), and the SI value was determined accordingly.

RESULTSIn the study on both repeatability and stability, there was a perfect correlation between the frequent measurements for one individual either on one occasion or on two 40-days-apart occasions. The SI values were not significantly different between the urban and the rural, men and women. Multiple stepwise regressions showed that systolic blood pressure and age were positively correlated with SI value, respectively (both P values were less than 0.001). The correlation kept unchanged after taking account of gender, BMI and heart rate. The mean SI values for people aged 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and > or = 60 were 7.35, 8.84, 10.41, 10.95 and 12.01 m/s (P < 0.01), respectively.

CONCLUSIONSBoth systolic blood pressure and age should be contributed as the main influencing factors of arterial compliance. Digital pulse wave analyzing method is a preferable measurement in evaluating arterial compliance in population-based study due to its better repeatability and stability.